Known for movies

Short Info

DiedNovember 25, 1968, Bound Brook, New Jersey, United States
SpouseMary Elizabeth Hard Willis, Mary Craig Sinclair, Meta Fuller
FactBiography in: "Dictionary of American Biography". Supplement Eight, 1966-1970, pages 593-595. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.


Upton Sinclair, Jr. was born on September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Upton Beall Sinclair, was a liquor salesman and his mother, Priscilla Harden, was a schoolteacher. He had two older sisters, Helen and Priscilla. Sinclair was educated in the Baltimore public schools and graduated from City College in 1898. He then attended the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Sinclair began his career as a newspaper reporter for the New York Evening Journal. He later worked as a staff writer for Cosmopolitan magazine and as a freelance writer. He also wrote several novels, including “The Jungle” (1906), “King Coal” (1917), and “Oil!” (1927).

In 1934, Sinclair ran for governor of California on the Democratic ticket. He lost the election, but his campaign brought attention to the plight of the poor and working class in California.

Sinclair was married three times. His first wife was Meta Fuller, with whom he had a son, David. His second wife was Mary Craig Kimbrough, with whom he had a son, Upton Sinclair III. His third wife was Mary Elizabeth Willis, with whom he had two sons, John and David.

Sinclair died on November 25, 1968, in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

General Info

Full NameUpton Sinclair, Jr.
DiedNovember 25, 1968, Bound Brook, New Jersey, United States
ProfessionAuthor, Journalist, Politician, Film producer, Novelist, Political activist
EducationColumbia University, City College of New York
NationalityAmerican

Family

SpouseMary Elizabeth Hard Willis, Mary Craig Sinclair, Meta Fuller
ChildrenDavid Sinclair
ParentsPriscilla Harden Sinclair, Upton Beall Sinclair

Accomplishments

AwardsPulitzer Prize for Fiction
NominationsNobel Prize in Literature, Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score, USC Scripter Award
MoviesThere Will Be Blood, Sergei Eisenstein. Mexican Fantasy, ¡Que viva México!, The Gnome-Mobile, The Wet Parade, The Jungle, Time in the sun

Social profile links

Facts

#Fact
1His play, "The Jungle" at the Oracle Productions Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Non-Equity Award for Play Production.
2Sinclair later wrote up his memories of the 1934 race in a book titled, "How I Got Beat".
3The Republican campaign against Sinclair generated so much animosity that when a woman announced at a Hollywood cocktail party her intention to vote for him she was forcibly ejected.
4The Republican campaign against Sinclair's senate race forced them to spend $10 million, a record amount for the Depression.
5During the 1934 senate race, phony newsreels designed to slander Sinclair were shown in California movie houses. The films had been produced by MGM president, Louis B. Mayer, who was also GOP chairman for California.
6In his 1934 senate race, his GOP rival ran a successful smear campaign which discredited Sinclair. One of the tactics was to quote Sinclair's written works out of context to make it appear that he was, for example, an opponent of the Boy Scouts, and an advocate of "Free Love".
7In 1934, he changed his registration to the Democratic Party and ran in the primary for the gubernatorial nomination for the Senate.
8As a member of the Socialist Party, Sinclair was twice a candidate for Congress, twice the socialist nominee for governor of California, and once a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
9Biography in: "Current Biography Yearbook 1962". Pages 389-391. The H.W. Wilson Company, 1963.
10Biography in: "Dictionary of American Biography". Supplement Eight, 1966-1970, pages 593-595. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.
11Biography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, volume 7, pages 451-457. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1982.
12Out of his own pocket, he sent copies of his novel "The Jungle" to every member of the U.S. Congress and then-President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, a voracious speed-reader who read several books a day, read Sinclair's novel and was horrified by the descriptions of conditions in the meat packing industry. He was inspired to champion for the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which led to the founding of the Food and Drug Administration.
13Pulitzer-winning American writer, he was the Democratic nominee for California Governor in 1934. He ran for office on other occasions as a Socialist.
14Born at 9:00am-LMT

Movies

Writer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
There Will Be Blood2007novel "Oil!"
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color1978TV Series novel - 2 episodes
The Gnome-Mobile1967book
Damaged Goods1937novel "Damaged Goods"
The Wet Parade1932from the novel by
Dzhimmi Khiggins1928novel "Jimmie Higgins"
The Money Changers1920novel
Kutató Sámuel1919
The Adventurer1917/IInovel
The Jungle1914novel

Producer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Sergey Eyzenshteyn. Meksikanskaya fantasiya1998Documentary producer - original project
Que Viva Mexico1979Documentary producer
Time in the Sun1940Documentary producer
Death Day1934Short producer
Eisenstein in Mexico1933Documentary producer
Thunder Over Mexico1933producer
¡Que viva Mexico!1932producer
The Jungle1914executive producer

Self

TitleYearStatusCharacter
The Jungle1914Himself

Archive Footage

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times2009DocumentaryHimself
The Great Depression1993TV Series documentaryHimself California Gubenatorial Candidate

Awards

Nominated Awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovie
2008USC Scripter AwardUSC Scripter AwardThere Will Be Blood (2007)

Source: IMDb, Wikipedia

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